


Of Flowers and Faerie Gardens

by hibiren



Series: Jay's FFXV Fic Favorites Collection 2018+ [2]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Candy, Chance Meetings, Cute, Dessert & Sweets, Fae & Fairies, Faerie!Ignis, Fairies, Flowers, Fluff, Gardens & Gardening, Gladnis, Happy, Light-Hearted, M/M, Magic, Presents, Reading, Tags May Change
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-07
Updated: 2019-07-07
Packaged: 2020-06-23 19:11:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,286
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19707664
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hibiren/pseuds/hibiren
Summary: Gladio often spends his free time at his garden cottage reading, with his nose buried in fae journals he'd collected over time. Even though it's a distant wish, he hopes that one day he might be able to see some of the fantastical creatures he'd read of - especially since he feels indebted to them, or some kind of magic, for the success of his garden and his recovery from fleeing a toxic city life. Little does he know, a visitor frequents the faerie garden house by his front door...





	Of Flowers and Faerie Gardens

**Author's Note:**

  * For [notthelasttime](https://archiveofourown.org/users/notthelasttime/gifts).



> For notthelasttime because they've been really supportive of me in the rough times I've been having this past week. I love talking of fae things and I hope that this piece shows my love of both flowers (prompted by the Full Bloom Zine project!) and faeries and bees and good things. Thank you for your support, it really means a lot to me! This is for you :D

Orange flowers speckled the hillside, a beautiful sprinkling of sunny brightness across the rolling greenery of Gladio’s favorite reading spot. He lazed happily in his hammock, the breeze lightly swaying him as he read from his favorite collection. It was a book he’d read several times over, but a series he never grew tired of. Books of fae, of secrets hidden in the forests and rivers, of a world he always wondered whether or not he could find someday. A world of magic. Any world was better than the city, where you just droned on and on, one day after another all blending into each other into a lifestyle of repetition and burnout.

The trees offered thankful shade from the building afternoon heat, but Gladio was content just to listen to the sound of the wind rustling the grass and leaves, and the faint buzzing of bumblebees off in the field hard at work ensuring that the flowers thrived.

There were times Gladio would take clippings from some of the flowers, take them home, and put them in a vase. Other times, he would press them between the dusty pages of an old, heavy book, and keep them there. He did so always with respect, knowing the value of what he was removing. He considered it polite, simple inspiration. Perhaps it was his internal spirituality, or his superstitiousness, but he always left at least one flower from his takings in front of the faerie garden beside his front door. It couldn’t hurt to leave an offering or two.

Anything he left usually disappeared overnight; honey candies, flowers (especially honeysuckle, which grew along his fenceline), extras from his baking ventures such as little pieces of lemon muffins, and small cups of sugarwater. He hoped whoever took his offerings enjoyed them. He could never see who it was, but the lack of animal tracks around the faerie garden made him hopeful. While several creatures tended to roam through his yard, they always stayed at least a solid foot away from the garden he’d built. It was a simple setup, with a little house reminiscent of a tree stump that was covered in succulents and small vines, and at the center of the stump was a little blue front door with a chime bell that sometimes rang in the breeze. Ever since he started leaving offerings at the faerie house, he’d noticed that his vegetable garden remained untouched as well. Before then it had somewhat been a free-for-all for the deer and the birds and the rabbits. Not that he minded (too much) but he did his best to keep his plants safe.

Sometimes Gladio wondered if he heard the bell chiming at night, but knew better than to try to find out; not every spirit was happy to be seen. If they wanted to show themselves, Gladio had told himself, they would. Perhaps he was too old, perhaps he was too loud, or just too tall. He could never say, because fae logic wasn’t something he knew much of. All that he’d wished for, was that one day, he’d catch even just a single glimpse of one of them - just to know that yes, they really did exist. His sister thought he put too much effort into it, but supported his endeavors nonetheless, as good siblings do.

After finishing a chapter, Gladio set his bookmark - a laminated pressed lavender bloom - between the pages and closed the book. Now would be a good time to return home to his cottage and prepare lunch, so he and Iris could have something to eat. If he was lucky, they’d have ripe cucumbers and tomatoes, maybe even a few carrots, in their backyard garden that they could use for fresh salads.

The walk home was pleasant. The dry dirt of the path crunched beneath his boots as he made his way back through the forest until his home came into view through the treeline. He stopped and bent down briefly at the faerie house, slipping a lemon candy from his pocket against the little welcome mat in front of the door.

“In case you’re hungry,” he said aloud, nodding satisfactorily. He then stood and ventured into the backyard to harvest some food for lunch. At the end of his picking, Gladio struggled to open the door - he held an armful of cucumbers and tomatoes against his chest, balanced precariously. In his other hand, he did his best not to crush the blueberries and blackberries he’d been lucky enough to pick.

“Should have come in for a basket,” he chuckled at Iris, who helped open the door for him and assisted in washing and preparing their harvest.

“You should have! Let me help next time, okay?” she chided gently, but with a smile. “I can’t wait! These blackberries look so good… I bet they’ll go great in some yogurt.”

They sat down to eat and Gladio watched out the window as he always did, smiling distractedly at the garden and his hard work at keeping their small cottage together. They really were lucky, to be able to escape city life and be able to make a living out of it. Their funds from sales at the local market were always plentiful, their garden always making a comeback despite any awful weather - cold, heat, rain, or heavy winds - and that was how Gladio knew that it wasn’t just him and his sister keeping the garden alive.

Long after Iris had finished her meal, Gladio remained sitting at the kitchen table, perusing the contents of the fae book he kept by the window.

_If you leave offerings of food, you may find your fae friends returning your gestures of kindness with simple things you might not know to look for - an extra-plentiful harvest, long-blooming or extremely healthy flowers, and perhaps some things that had been missing might turn up when you need to find them. While it is true that fae can be dangerous, it is only if they are mistreated or feel as if they’re in peril or disrespected. They’re generally welcoming of humankind as long as their boundaries and environment are respected. Meeting a faerie or spirit is likely impossible, but if you ever have the privilege, consider yourself one of a treasured, trusted few._

“If… if I could even have your name, I would be happy,” Gladio muttered into the pages of the book. “If I never see you, I at least want to thank you properly, for everything you’ve done.”

When he looked up out the window again, something caught his attention: a bright bloom of a globe mallow flower poking out distinctively from a formerly empty vase at the windowsill.

A small tag hung against one of the leaf junctures. In neat handwriting in orange ink, a single word penned itself into the paper while he watched:

_Ignis._

“Iris?”

“Yeah? You okay?”

“Did you put this flower here? I must’ve missed it,” Gladio asked, unsure if he should pick up the vase, or the flower, in case either might disappear before he had a chance to ask if he was losing his mind. He didn’t want to take his eyes off of it, trying to drink in and cling to as much of this inkling of proof as he could.

“Which one?” Iris poked her head out from her room to see what was going on.

“This orange one.”

“No? I’ve only been out into the garden today to water the plants. I haven’t picked any flowers. Must’ve been a gift?” wondered Iris thoughtfully. “I think you’re making friends after all.”

Gladio smiled, sure his expression looked lost, dreamy, but happy. “Yeah, I think so too.”

After putting his dishes from lunch away, Gladio picked up a few of the blueberries and blackberries and left them at the faerie house door, hoping to share his meal. These were the biggest fruits they’d gotten from their plants all season, and he likely had a little bit of magic to thank for that.

“Thanks, Ignis,” Gladio mumbled softly, a warm smile on his face. Was the _you’re welcome_ he heard among a sudden gust of wind his imagination?

* * *

The next few days were spent in and out of the garden, tending to and watering his plants, picking what needed picking and pruning what needed pruning. He deposited some of his plant scraps into his compost bin and wiped his hands against his apron satisfactorily after a long afternoon’s work. It was time for a reading break.

Gladio briefly slipped into the house to let Iris know he was leaving. He left his apron in the washroom hanging on a nearby hook, picked up his favorite book, and wandered out the door to go rest in his hammock and read for a while. Again the weather was pleasant. Beautiful, puffy white clouds scattered tall across the gradient blue sky, and the shadows below drifted their shade gently across the delicate curve of the hills. He laid and read for a while, stopping at the end of another chapter when he checked his watch; looking up affirmed the golden hues that fell over the field as the sun lowered into the horizon. Time to get home.

As he stood, he realized there was an entire patch of familiar orange flowers blooming directly beneath his hammock. Shifting awkwardly, he did his best to inch out of the hammock and onto a non-flower-covered space. Those definitely hadn’t been there when he first arrived; he’d probably have to move his hammock to avoid crushing the flowers and to give them some sunlight since the large drape of fabric was likely in their way.

Gladio knelt down to inspect the sudden appearance of all these flowers. He turned the petals of one over in one hand; there was no denying that they were real. He brushed his hand over a few more; they were just as real. As he was about to leave, something caught his eye. Tucked directly beneath his hammock was an abnormally large blossom, and right at the center was a tiny, slumbering, _winged_ body. The faerie clutched a hat to his chest, stirring intermittently in his dreams as his shimmering dragonfly-beelike wings twitched. Gladio was in utter shock at the sight of the pollen-speckled form sleeping peacefully, so close, so close he could touch him…

 _“Ignis,”_ Gladio whispered in realization, and that was when the faerie stirred, as if summoned. He ruffled his wings out, scattering a light dusting of pollen against the petals below. Ignis then rubbed at his eyes as if to rid himself of lingering sleepiness and then made an attempt to tame his tangled blond tufts of hair back into place.

“Oh! Oh, oh no, I’m sorry,” Gladio hesitated breathlessly, scooting back on his knees to give his unexpected companion some space. “I didn’t mean to wake you. I’m just about to leave, I’ll be on my way. I meant no harm.”

As if taking a moment to register he was being spoken to, the faerie slowly pulled the large round glasses from their place on his nose, cleaned them with the edge of his pollen covered tailcoat (expressing a quiet squeak of frustration while sneezing through the rising dust) and eventually found an unpollinated piece of clothing to clean them before returning the frames to his face. By now at least, Ignis seemed more awake.

“It’s quite alright. I should be returning home soon.” The voice was small, soft, almost whispery… but echoing of thankfulness. “I fell asleep while helping pollinate with the bees earlier. Your… your reading voice is very hypnotic.”

Gladio found himself flushing a nervous shade of pink. “Um… thank you. Will you be okay to get home on your own? If you’re too tired I could… try to carry you?” The offer would likely be refused, but he wanted to do his best to ensure he stayed on the fae’s good side.

“We can return home together, if you’d like. We do live in the same garden, after all. Or rather - I live in yours. The home you’ve built for me is quite lovely. I had to make room for it to be a bit bigger on the inside, but that you’d made space for me was enough of an invitation. So thank you, Gladiolus.”

“You know my name?” Gladio asked, surprised when his name rolled easily off of the small faerie’s tongue.

“I have heard you out in the garden, yes. I thought I would like to keep watch over you, as a human who bears a flower’s blessing. I’d say it suits you quite well. You’re very kind to both your sister and to the garden you keep. You show more respect for nature than any human I’ve ever seen in my long, long life. I now know I can trust you.”

With a flitter of his wings, Ignis leapt up from his flower-bed, shook the remaining pollen free from his clothes in a way somewhat reminiscent of a dog shaking water from its fur, and floated over to be eye level with Gladio. “Shall we?”

“Oh! Yeah. Of course. After, um… after you?”

Gladio normally never tripped over his own words, but he was still in such shock that _he was right_ that he knew he couldn’t hide the awkward smile he wore. He couldn’t wait to say ‘ha, I _told_ you so!!’ to Iris -

“Ignis? Do I have to keep you a secret, or can I tell my sister about you? So I don’t break any… well, fae laws, or anything terrible like that.”

Ignis smiled as he kept pace with Gladio’s wide steps, his wings beating rapidly enough to make a light _whirr_ noise against the otherwise quiet. “Feel free to speak of me; she lives with you. She takes just as much responsibility over the welfare of your garden as you do. She’s very respectful. Perhaps, one day, I’d like to meet her… but for now, I’d like it to be just us. You may speak of me to her, however. Then we shall see. Just keep in mind that human dwellings do little in the way of hiding conversation, especially from fae ears, so I will be able to hear what she says.”

Gladio kept his brewing questions to himself as they made their way back to the cottage. He listened as Ignis shared small stories of how he landed into Gladio’s yard, and how he was thankful for the gardenspace, and even how he modified it himself with a little magical assistance - apparently even though the outside of the stump was small (and the door never opened for Gladio as it appeared to him as he set it - glued to the wood) the inside was rather large and grandiose and filled with all of the trinkets and treats that Gladio had left for him over time.

“The lemon candies, those are my favorite of all of the food offerings. I’ve never tasted anything quite like it,” Ignis admitted, gently patting a hand against his stomach. “The right amount of sour and sweet in perfect balance.”

“Those, I got from Iris; she likes them a lot too,” Gladio said as he stepped past the gate and up to his front door, turning the key in the lock but leaving it there as he turned to face Ignis, who glided down to land neatly at his own doorstep. “I can ask her to get some more, but we’ve got a stash of plenty.”

“Oh, that would be lovely,” Ignis said, a warm smile at his lips. “Perhaps I shall see you again tomorrow?”

“I’d like that,” Gladio answered, nodding a polite goodnight to Ignis before walking inside with a new sense of lightheartedness to his steps. As he tried to look for Iris he ventured into the kitchen and found the globe mallow still sitting in the windowsill’s vase. When he reached out to touch it, it never disappeared. He picked it up, and it remained unmoving, but seemed to sparkle in the gentle light of his kitchen. “I’d like to add this to my collection,” he added out loud, hoping that if Ignis could hear he would approve. If not, he was sure the flower would disappear from his book by morning.

Iris’ voice behind Gladio would have startled him if she hadn’t been so quiet. “So? It was a friend, wasn’t it?”

Gladio turned, gesturing to the flower-pressing book, then to his fae journals.

“They’re _real,_ Iris, I was right - the books were right. I knew… I knew something magical was happening, I just… I never had proof, _real_ proof until now. I _met_ one, Iris!”

Though she seemed skeptical, hands resting gently against her hips, she nodded along anyway. “Do they have a name?”

“Ignis! Just like the flower said. I went out to read earlier and I found him sleeping in some flowers below my hammock - I’ll have to show you tomorrow! A whole bunch of flowers just sprouted under me and I hadn't even noticed. But for now, you should sleep. Oh! And Ignis said that your lemon candies are his favorite, so if you want to make him happy, you should leave some by his door tonight.”

“Mm… maybe I should. Couldn’t hurt to get on his good side, especially since he’s been so helpful with the garden…” At the mention of the lemon candies, she softened a bit and gave Gladio’s claim more thought. She eventually settled on, “I’d like to meet him one day.”

“He wants to meet you too, but in time. You’ll be just as surprised as I am when you do meet, I know. But for now - we should both try to get some sleep. We have an early morning tomorrow.”

Iris smiled and turned, disappearing into her bedroom with a call of, “Goodnight, Gladdy!”

“G‘night, Iris.”

And after the door closed to his own bedroom, he added, “Goodnight, Ignis.”

As hard as he tried to, he just couldn’t sleep. He was far too excited. Tossing and turning in his bed got him nowhere, so he picked up one of his books, switched on his bedside lamp, and began to read.

_Faeries don’t sleep at the same cycle as humans do - it has more to do with exhaustion and exertion rather than a daily schedule. They do tend to be more active at very early morning or late at night, however, and greatly enjoy working in darkness if they feel as if they’re in danger or in a public or human-occupied space. To note, if a garden faerie slumbers on an unhindered patch of grass it will result in a sudden burst of flora in the surrounding area, often as a protection mechanism or a way to produce shade. The variety and type of flowers depend on the location and mannerisms of the faerie subject. If you find patches of unexplainable flowers suddenly appearing in your area, watch for sleeping fae._

It seemed Ignis really did trust him. That also explained the patches of orange blooms across the nearby hills - it seemed his assistance with pollination really was hard work. But Gladio knew it was important nonetheless, and made a note to himself to share some of his breakfast with Ignis tomorrow; a decent choice of honey, fruit, and pancakes. If he tried hard enough, he could work to get the pancakes hand-size for Ignis with his leftover pancake batter. A solid plan. All that was left was to get some rest, and prepare for the day ahead. He knew, now, he’d wake up in the morning just a little bit happier knowing his wishes had come true.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm so excited I can share a little bit of my fae projects (as a sliiiiiight preview for some of my work for Full Bloom as well!) and I wanted to write this also as a thank-you. I hope this fic makes you smile!
> 
> I know I've been doing a lot of AU writing but it's been a really fun experience for me!
> 
> EDIT!: Sequel fic here - ["Over Tea and Tarot"](https://archiveofourown.org/works/19812670)


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